lev·y / [lev-ee] 1. an imposing or collecting, as of a tax, by authority or force.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

November 2008 Levies on the Ballot

There will be several local levies on the ballot on Tuesday, November 4.

Fire department levies in six townships,

Mid-East Career and Technology Center levy,

West Muskingum Local School District levy, and

Zanesville City School District levy.

If you were free to choose where your hard-earned money goes, would you give to these causes willingly, and would you give as much as they are demanding? If you would be willing to donate your money to these groups, why don’t you give it? Why must you require a levy to give it? A levy simply demands that you give the money upon pain of fine, prison, and/or property confiscation? Must the threat of government force coerce us to give to causes that are important to us, or may we act charitable with our money?

If you would give willingly to these causes, would you force your neighbor to give upon pain of fine, prison, and/or property confiscation? That is, after all, what the levy is all about – not collecting funds from those who would give willingly, but collecting funds from those who would not give willingly to the cause for which the money is levied if they had the free choice. When you vote for a levy, you are using the coercive power of the state to force your neighbor to give to a cause to which he would not give willingly. Yes – that would include your neighbor who just lost his job. Yes – that would include your neighbor who just checked his wife into the hospital with terminal cancer and is struggling to pay for it. Yes – that would include your neighbor whose husband just left her with three kids. Yes – that would include your neighbor who sacrifices to send their children to private school. Would you threaten them with fine and prison if they don’t cough up the wealth that these levies would demand from them? Where is our compassion and sense of decency, that we would sacrifice the liberty of our friends and neighbors and use the power of the state to coerce money from others?

Ohioans are having hard times. The unemployment lines are growing. Only the bureaucrats think we can afford a few more taxes. The parasites think that they need your money more than you do. They must exploit your apathy to squeeze your money from you. Or, they must exploit your guilt (after all, these levies are “for the children!”). Please be liberated from the guilt-trip by sending a check to the school of your choice. If you want to support Mid-East Career and Tech Center, then sign up for a few classes during the weekends. You don’t have to vote for a levy to help educate the next generation. It may be that the best way for money to be spent on educating youth is if it is spent by parents. Isn’t that a grand idea? Let parents spend their own money on their own children. Be free, and let others be free. Vote NO on levies.